1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile rack for a hard disk drive designed to facilitate the removal of a hard disk and the mobile rack from a computer.
2. Description of Related Arts
A hard disk is one of the most important data storage media for computers. Thanks to the advancement in hard disk technology, current hard disks allow a computer to store a massive amount of information in the secondary storage, which is readily accessible to the computer by the execution of program instructions. Mobile racks are created to enhance the portability of hard disks, so those users can store their important data in a hard disk and carry the disk with them wherever they go. Whenever they want to retrieve the data from the hard disk or save new data, they only need to find a computer with a mobile disk set up, and then insert the mobile rack holding the personal disk into the drive bay for data reading or writing. This is a convenient way for those people who need to use their personal disk but are a little hesitant to carry a bulky notebook along on a business trip. However, there is a precondition for such usage that is the user""s mobile rack holding the personal disk has to be compatible with the particular mobile drive set up in the computer that is going to be used. If the dimensions of the mounting bracket on the computer are different from the new user""s, then the new user has to dismount the hard disk from the mobile rack and switch it to the mobile rack installed on the computer.
It is not a very easy task to remove the hard disk from conventional mobile racks considering that the power connector and data cable are connected at the back of the hard disk. When one tries to remove the hard disk from the removable cartridge, one has to first push up the handle of the mobile rack before pulling out the cartridge from the mounting bracket, and then the hard disk has to be squeezed out from the sunken enclosure. The present invention is to provide a practical solution to the above problem by modifying the structure of the mobile rack.
The main objective of the present invention is to provide a mobile rack for hard disk drives, comprising a removable cartridge with a pair of guiding rails on the right and left side walls for fitting into the mounting bracket installed on the computer chassis, and a driver door held by a pivot block at one corner and in front of the removable cartridge. The driver door is set in with two base blocks, wherein each contains a slider with a cavity in the center, and each is attached to a sliding plate such that the top and bottom edges of the sliding plate ride on the corresponding sliding rails in the base block for engaging or releasing the latch of the mobile rack, which is a pair of latching pins extending out from each slider in an opposite direction beyond the lateral wall of the driver door through a pin hole. A pull back spring is wound on the pivot with one end hooked to the removable cartridge and the other end attached to the back of the driver door.
When removing the mobile rack holding the hard disk drive, one only has to push in the sliders housed in the driver door with two fingers, such that the latch of the driver door becomes released from the mounting bracket. As the driver door is opened outward, tension applied on the pull back spring will automatically force out the removable cartridge from the mounting bracket, so that user can easily remove the hard disk from the computer.